Lower pay and caregiving make it harder to build a nest egg to last their longer lives

 In America's retirement capital, Kerry Perga holds an office job at age 67 -- and prays for good health so she can keep working.

She works because she needs the money, not because she loves her job.

Widowed at 39, Perga took jobs that helped her raise a family, not build a comfortable retirement. Social Security and the part-time job in Charlotte County help pay the bills, but she worries about outliving her finances.

"If I had my druthers I'd retire," said Perga. "I'd love to be able to read, volunteer, do what I want to do."

In Southwest Florida and across the country, more and more women are working. Still, more than half of those 65 and older are poor or saved from poverty only by Social Security.

And with the population of older women expected to near 31 million by 2020, even more will be at risk of impoverishment.

Older generations are struggling with cultural and economic shifts that have redefined their roles at home and work, in addition to increasing lifespans.

But younger women are also vulnerable, because of serious pension disadvantages, increased debt and Social Security's shaky financial footing.

Laurel Beedon, a policy analyst for the AARP, recently told women at a national aging conference that data on retirement "ought to scare you to pieces."

Women need more money than men when they retire because they tend to live longer. Instead, they usually have less because they get lower pay, take more time off the job to raise children and care for aging relatives, and don't have savings or pension income.

Women are nearly twice as likely as men to retire into poverty.

The AARP and other organizations say the problems highlight the need to bolster Social Security, which faces funding shortfalls because of the overwhelming number of baby boomers approaching retirement age.

Improvements to private pensions, tax credits and other savings incentives could help. But no immediate help is on the horizon.

In the meantime, increasing personal saving is vital.

And that, advocates say, requires more education and planning.

"We do need to impress on people that they need to be more responsible for themselves," Beedon said.

Change in plans

Charlotte County is a retirement mecca. It has the highest percentage of retirement-age residents of any county in the nation.

Perga, a resident since 1979, has watched as tens of thousands of Northerners have forsaken working for a life of leisure, warmth and water in Charlotte.

But she won't join the retiree ranks soon.

Two to three days a week, she commutes from Port Charlotte to Punta Gorda in her 10-year-old car to an agency that helps people with disabilities find jobs.

"I'm making sure that somehow, I can afford to live," said Perga. "It's fine because I'm healthy. I can get by."

She takes care of her father, 86, who has Alzheimer's disease. They've shared a modest Port Charlotte duplex since Hurricane Charley destroyed Perga's house nearly two years ago. While she doesn't complain, Perga shares a vague sense with many women in her generation that life's rules changed in the middle of the game.

"I come from a generation of stay-at-home moms," she said. "Get married, and your husband will take care of you -- that was our thinking."

Perga did get married, first at age 20, then to her second husband in 1969.

"We figured to retire together," Perga said. "Somehow, I thought this would go on forever."

But at 42, Perga's husband died of a heart attack. They had been married nine years -- one short of the 10 needed for her to qualify for a higher Social Security benefit check in retirement.

Thrust into control of her family, including youngsters from ages 4 to 18, Perga moved to Punta Gorda, where her parents owned a home.

She stayed home as long as possible, waiting until the children were older before taking part-time jobs.

"I didn't want latchkey kids at all," she said.

In her early 50s, Perga took her first full-time job, as a financial clerk at the Cultural Center of Charlotte County, the community senior center.

The position didn't offer a pension, but she didn't worry.

"I guess I was very naive in thinking, 'Things will work out,'" said Perga, who worked her way up to assistant to the executive director during her 15 years at the center. "It didn't occur to me that Social Security wouldn't be enough."

Shortchanged

Evidence of women's financial vulnerability as they age comes from the nation's labor rolls: While the percentage of older men in the work force has declined since the 1940s, the percentage of older women working is rising.

In 1985, 7.3 percent of women 65 and over worked. Last year, the rate hit 11.5 percent.

Some obviously work by choice. But a significant number are in dire straits.

Even with Social Security, 12 percent of women 65 and older fall below the government's poverty line -- an annual income of less than $10,000 for a single person.

Another 40 percent of women that age are kept out of poverty only by their Social Security checks. The poverty rate is even higher for women in their 70s and 80s.

The median income for women over 65 is less than $12,000, compared with more than $20,000 for men.

"Women have always had a fairly rough old age," said Steven Sass, associate director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. "The retirement income system we developed and still have is not especially kind to women."

As the concept of retirement evolved during the past century, the public and private pensions that enabled it were based on earnings and years in the work force.

Compared with men, women are shortchanged in both categories.

Though the pay gap between men and women has narrowed over the past few decades, labor statistics show that women are paid about 77 cents for every dollar men make.

A woman with a college degree earns $523,000 less over a lifetime than a man, the Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement reports.

What's more, like Perga, women move in and out of the work force to raise children and care for aging parents or other relatives.

They lose an average of 13 years of earnings after age 22 because of caregiving and child-raising, Women's Institute president Cindy Hounsell said.

The disruptions make it harder to build seniority, earn promotions and accrue service years that pad pension income. It also makes them more likely to take part-time jobs, which offer fewer benefits.

Studies by the AARP's Beedon and the Employee Benefit Research Institute show that women are half as likely as men to have private pension income in retirement, and when they do, they get about $6,000 less annually.

That makes women far more dependent on Social Security than men, even though the program was not designed to be the sole source of income for retired workers.

Living longer

Women often don't discover the consequences of earlier choices and circumstances until late in life. They may not realize their husband's private pension ends when he dies, or they are shocked when their Social Security income is reduced.

Hope McCrea, 59, has entered a training program to help find a new job. Her husband died Dec. 31, and when he did, the family income dropped from about $1,400 a month to just over $800.

By the time she pays rent in a subsidized housing complex in Port Charlotte, utilities, car expenses and buys groceries, McCrea said she has about $50 left.

She gets assistance from a church and splits groceries with a friend to help cut costs. Higher gas prices have taken a big bite from her budget.

McCrea worked in a variety of jobs, including factory work and collecting tolls. She'd counted on a pension from Prudential, where she worked in accounting, but was laid off before qualifying.

Now she hopes to find a job that won't inflame a back injury sustained on the job several years ago.

"The good Lord helps those who help themselves," she said.

Longer life expectancy has made it harder for men and women to maintain their standard of living in retirement. But the problem is worse for women, who live an average of six years longer.

When Perga was a little girl, the average worker could expect to live just a few years past 65. But a majority of women reaching age 65 today will live at least another 20 years.

Planning for 90

The picture isn't a lot brighter for younger women, although they're more likely to have college degrees, higher-paying jobs and more years in the work force than their predecessors.

Private pension plans have undergone fundamental changes that could undermine retirement for many.

Pension plans offered today -- typically 401(k)s -- rely more on employee savings and money management to ensure future payouts than previous plans.

Married women had a legal right to a share of traditional pensions, but not to a partner's 401(k) plan.

Although 401(k)s are better suited for women moving in and out of the work force, women are less likely to participate than men. And investing the savings aggressively enough to generate sufficient income without losing the savings is tricky.

"It will take real skill and luck, because women have a good chance of living to 90," Boston College's Sass said. "To have a 401(k) provide income 25 years out is no mean task."

Working past the age of 62, as Perga does, could help women meet more of their financial needs. But health problems and disability are obstacles for many.

Other solutions, such as shoring up Social Security or overhauling private pensions, entail major policy changes that need support and leadership at high government and corporate levels. And that hasn't materialized yet.

The burden, Hounsell said, is on women to recognize the risk, examine their financial status and save more on their own.

Perga said she takes comfort in knowing that she can fall back on her three siblings and four children, if she has to.

And she has encouraged her three daughters to plan for their financial future.

"I said, 'Don't let yourself get in my position,'" she said. "I wanted them to be completely independent."

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